Starting a Family Is Out of Reach for 58 Percent of Tech Workers

FEATURED IMAGE | Source: Teamblind Inc.

Millennials benefit from higher incomes compared to previous generations but this increase hasn’t kept up with inflated living costs. College tuitions, home prices, and health insurance premiums have increased at a faster rate. The cost of raising a child is also higher than ever. Parents will spend between 9 and 22 percent of their annual income on child care for every child. As of 2015, the average cost of raising a single child until age 17 was $233,610.

The San Francisco Bay Area, where many of our users live and work, is currently the most expensive region in the United States. Buying a home and raising a family here is completely out of reach for many residents. Even tech workers earning large salaries at Google or Apple are struggling to build roots in the area.

This month, we asked our community of tech professionals to let us know if a high cost of living has affected their decision to have kids and start a family. Here’s what they said:

Survey:The rising cost of living has forced me to delay starting a family.

A) True – 58.43 percent

B) False – 41.57 percent

Total Participants:8,284

Survey Dates:September 2, 2018 – September 7, 2018

Company-specific results for this survey didn’t stray far from the overall average. Below are the final results for 14 tech companies that summed up with the most survey responses. The percentages listed for each company represent employees who delayed building a family. Apple has the highest percentage of employees who say they have delayed starting a family due to high cost of living (69.11 percent) while Oracle has the least (44.94 percent).

Here’s a comparison of companies in the two largest tech hubs, the Bay Area and Seattle:

Let us know what you think of the survey results. Comment below or send us a tweet!